


The Dragon's Treasure

by KittenKin



Category: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-14
Updated: 2013-06-14
Packaged: 2017-12-14 22:41:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/842192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenKin/pseuds/KittenKin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Kurogane has scales and claws and a big swishy tail. Complete in one part for now. I may turn it into a longer story in the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dragon's Treasure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zelinxia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelinxia/gifts).



There was an egg in that tower; the black dragon was almost certain of it. There was nothing in this world that could call to him so - mind to mind, spirit to spirit - except the ancient magic that had all but died out in these days save in some few surviving mermaids and other magical kindred. He was the more certain of it being an egg instead of some other ancient breed because only the unhatched could have a voice so muted and unformed, yet so beautifully full of potential because there were as of yet no boundaries and borderlines to its awareness. An unhatched dragon was at once powerless and limitless, and in all ways a treasure.

Coming upon an egg with no dam nearby filled the dragon with a myriad of emotions and questions. Death alone could part a dragon from any of her clutch, so this egg was certainly his to claim since it was unguarded and in his territory, and he exulted at the idea of _another_ in his realm, too empty since the betrayal and slaughter of his sire and dam. His territory was remote, separated from all the others by vast seas, and he'd long since given up the idea of a mate. He could not leave his realm unguarded to go seek a mate elsewhere, nor was it likely that a female would wander her lone way to his shores.

It was even less likely that a gravid female should wander her lone way to his shores, lay a single egg in a human's tower, then crawl off elsewhere to die all while remaining undetected by him. How the egg came to be here was a curiosity, therefore, and no little one. He circled and circled, hiding his great shadow by staying above the thick stormclouds piled high and peering intently through the small gaps in the cloud cover at the tower below. It was a strange, lonely structure; a tall spire standing in the center of a deep valley instead of an attachment to the ugly piles of rock that some few of the humans tended to dwell in.

Most humans were content to build little nests for themselves of wood and reed like thrushes and warblers, unobtrusive and easily ignored. Some, however, seemed like manic termites that must pile rock upon rock until they had awkward miniature mountains to dwell in and call their own. They formed family units, occasionally multitudinous, and multiple families would sometimes gather together to form a colony of sorts, but in these larger rock-piles there was never that harmony of mind and purpose that characterized an anthill or beehive. The humans seemed to gather together for warmth or protection but there was always a disorganization of movement within their larger packs that displeased the dragon with its unnaturalness whenever he chanced to glance down at them. There was only one truly significant human rock-pile in the dragon's lonely realm, which he was glad of, but it was still one eyesore too many and now it had caught his attention for another reason entirely.

As the dragon circled and watched, and watched and circled, some humans rode from the castle gates to the lip of the valley snaking past. The great beast cast his mind toward them and felt a little prickle of power; mages. Of all the humans in the dragon's realm, only mages had that little spark that made them seem more than mere dumb animals. He'd never gotten close enough to one to attempt communicating, however, and even if they could speak, what then? What could a human provide in the way of companionship? It was a measure of his yearning for another - understanding, communion, _sharing_ \- that he even considered it once in a great while.

The great, scaly head tipped curiously as he watched two of the humans cross from the lip of the valley to the top of the tower on a shining bridge that the others had conjured up - pitiful things; they couldn't even fly or leap any distance worth measuring - and disappeared into the stone spire. He growled and flapped his wings harder, disturbing lightning from the stormclouds. If there was an egg in there, and these humans knew of it, then perhaps there was a dragon's corpse on some far shore lying amidst scattered shells and spilled yolks, and this lone egg had been stolen away.

For what purpose, he knew not, but very much doubted it was good. With a quick snap of his wings, the dragon gathered himself and then dove sharply through the clouds, bursting through their dark underbelly like a bolt of black lightning. Whether the humans meant to enslave the unhatched or simply eat it for breakfast, it was not going to happen. There would be no more dragon blood spilled in this realm if he could prevent it.

It took barely any time for his great form to slice through the air, and then he spread his wings wide, catching the air with a great boom like thunder to slow his descent lest his impact with the tower knock it entirely down and harm the egg within. His landing was still heavy enough and great sections of rock went tumbling down into the valley as he hit the spire, digging his talons into its sides and beating at the air with his wings to steady himself. The mages at the edge of the valley were thrown back and tumbled across the ground like leaves, unable to keep their feet in the wind he created. The glimmering bridge they'd built disappeared as they picked themselves up and ran shrieking back to their pile of rocks.

With one swift bite, the dragon took the roof of the tower neatly off. Spitting the crumbling stone into the valley, he craned his neck to peer down with glittering red eyes into the room now open to the storm that had broken overhead and then blinked in surprise. Within the tower was not two humans and an egg, but three humans. The dragon would have snarled in disgust at his mistake and flown off, save that the call of an unhatched was even stronger now and certainly coming from the small figure standing unmoving and unmoved before him.

Unlike the...well, the whatever it was, the mages were cowering against what remained of the far wall, squealing like piglets and flailing about like fish thrown onto a grassy bank by a hungry bear. Annoyed by the ungainly distraction, the dragon reached up and dragged one claw across the back half of the crumbling room, sweeping up stone and mortar and mages and flicking them all down into the valley.

There.

With a huff of satisfaction, the dragon returned to his contemplation of the not-an-egg, eyeing it from top to bottom and poking his head close to take a quick sniff. Decidedly human, male so far as he could tell, and an underfed juvenile at that. Everything about the boy looked weak and wan, from the pale gold hair blowing this way and that in the storm all the way down to the bare bony feet he was standing - swaying - on. He was clad in some indifferent rag that bagged from his narrow shoulders and reached only far enough to cover his knees. The dragon suddenly thought of a late-laid egg, abandoned in its last days and finally cracking open only for the shivering, scrawny chick within to find that his parents and siblings had already flown the nest.

The human was barely a scrap, and yet to counterbalance this unappealing exterior was the mind - soul, spark, _spirit_ \- the dragon could sense emanating from this unlikely vessel. He could almost imagine the flesh of the boy splitting open and an actual dragon hatching out of it. There was not enough body to have housed even the smallest of small eggs, however, and after peering 'round to confirm that there was no egg being hidden behind the slender figure, the dragon knew not what to make of the boy that felt like an unhatched.

The disparity between look and feel was not all that puzzled him either. The reaction of the mages had been consistent with how humans behaved when faced with a dragon. At least, a dragon hale and hearty...humans were different animals indeed when they came upon a dragon dying of poison and dark magic, swarming greedily over the fallen and mighty like ants on a dead bird. He would have been unsurprised by screams, panicked flight, or fruitless attempts to fight. What he got instead was a steady, even stare from two blue eyes. They were a bit wide, to be sure, in between blinks whenever a raindrop landed too close to pale lashes, but those eyes and indeed the whole face was only expressive of wonder instead of stark terror.

The dragon pushed his mind toward the not-an-egg, just as he'd pushed his snout close for a sniff before, ever more curious about this creature he'd found. This was some new breed of mage, perhaps. One so talented as to lift its mind to nearly a dragon's level. He sent a tiny spiral of thought out, cautious and careful, like poking just the very tip of a talon lightly into the human's soft belly to check for reaction and life.

Wolves howled, birds sang, and humans chattered, but dragons _shared_. Their communication went beyond mere sound and assigned meaning, though they also had their roars and snarls and purrs and trills. When mind met mind there was an exchange of image and scent and sound and taste and feel, of emotion and intent, of experiences remembered or potential posited. The dragon considered this scrap of human possessed of a wealth of dragon-feel and wondered if it would be possible that this unformed mind might have the potential to connect with his, and in presenting the question to the boy, created that connection.

Those big blue eyes flared even wider and the little slash of a mouth dropped open as well, and then pale hands were fisting handfuls of flyaway gold strands as the maybe-mage crashed to his knees. The boy writhed and that spare chest heaved as if struggling to give birth to screams, but that throat was locked down, only letting the thinnest of whines - barely a whistle of wind - escape. The boy's mouth worked and he shook his head, and if the little man-child had been covering his ears it would have seemed that he was cowering in fear because the dragon had roared at him full-throated. But he only clutched at his temples and stared wide-eyed at the great beast, and amidst the whirl of confusion and shock emanating from the boy, the black dragon felt it.

Hesitant, so overwhelmed and uncomprehending and _new_ that he didn't even understand that he ought to be afraid or know that what he was doing was unthinkable, so fragile and faint that it was barely there...yet there it was, in fact. The boy reeled back from the contact like a willow bending to the ground before a gale, and then, finding himself still alive and intact, instinctively reached back. The dragon gazed down at the boy with curious red eyes and then was suddenly given a look through the boy's blue ones. He saw himself destroying the boy's little world in a burst of lightning and thunder and crumbling rock, sweeping away in the blink of an eye - and the flick of a talon - tormentors who had until then seemed so absolute and terrifying. He saw himself rising up tall and terrible and terrifying, black and blood-red and beautiful, blotting out the sky, blotting out _everything_ , and then blotting out thought itself with his presence.

The boy saw what the dragon had _done_ , and tremblingly wanted to know what he _was_.

He swished his tail in pleasure, gouging new scars into the sides of the canyon, and purred low in his throat, feeling an indefinable satisfaction at even this infinitesimal exchange. The dragon was tempted to nose at the not-an-egg that was like-an-egg, but the boy looked as though even a gentle nudge might send him toppling down into the valley. Instead he laid his chin down onto the shattered floor of the tower room and fixed the boy with an intent, inviting stare while reaching out to the unformed mind again, as carefully and quietly as he could.

He sent the boy simple images restricted to one viewpoint, stripped of world and ancient knowledge, all related memories and senses repressed to the utmost, and did his best to damp down all the overwhelming and powerful emotions as well. Something in between the gentle feelings dams fed to their unhatched and the clumsy communions of hatchlings. Some sense of excitement at what could be leaked through, and it pinked the boy's cheeks and put a glint of life into those shocked summer-sky eyes. He sent him images of leaving the ruined tower, sent him images of _together_ and _free_ , and offered to make it real. This second contact seemed less stunning, or perhaps the boy was already so overwhelmed that there was nowhere left for his mind to retreat to, but though there was no physical reaction, neither was there any mental one.

Heartbeats thudded by and there was nothing but thunder and wind and rain pattering down on scales and stone, and just as the dragon would have impatiently huffed and begun to wonder if that brief contact had been all that this human was capable of, some little noise from his right caught his attention. He flicked his eyes over to the lip of the valley and saw humans pouring out of the castle like ants from a crushed hill. As of yet they were merely milling about in confusion, but he saw the glint of spears and felt the sparks of mages and growled in irritation. They could not kill him, not a dragon in its full strength, but they would be distracting with their noise and little pinpricks. He turned his eyes again to the boy to judge within himself whether this curiosity was worth lingering for, and did in fact hesitate from unfurling his wings to fly away as he saw the man-child more animated than ever yet before.

Terror was now shivering across that rain-streaked face at the sight of his captors pouring forth in such numbers, and he who had not shied away from a dragon tearing his prison apart now shrank back from the advent of his fellow humans. Water-darkened blond hair clung to the boy's face as it whipped 'round to look up again at the great dragonhead still resting at the edge of the remnants of the tower room. Red eyes stared expectantly and nostrils flared with an impatient snort as if to ask, _well?_ The wind shrieked and brought the echo of shouts to the tower, the rain streaked down the boy's face like tears, lightning put sparks into blue eyes while thunder rumbled in a black-scaled throat, and finally a pale, shivering hand slowly wavered up through the space between them and came to rest on the dragon's snout.

Good enough.

Considering this touch acceptance, the dragon wasted no more time but snaked his long tongue out and wrapped it securely about the like-an-egg, and then dragged the shocked morsel into his mouth for safekeeping. He shook his wings loose, raising them above the cliff edges so that he could unfurl them fully, and gathered himself, digging his talons deeper into the crumbling tower. A powerful push sent the structure toppling over into the darkness of the valley and thrust the dragon into the air where he beat his wings sharply and clawed his way upwards. Leathery membranes filled, snapping taught and sending a great wind rushing across the land, scattering the humans and stirring up yet more screams and shouts. A baleful red eye glared down as the dragon climbed higher and higher. He would have liked to have roared down at the creatures and scattered them further but the like-an-egg in his mouth would have been deafened by the noise, so he merely lashed his tail derisively at them before disappearing into the clouds.

Below the clouds was rain and darkness but above them was clear skies and sunshine, yet the dragon liked the crackle of power against his hide and stayed within the stormclouds themselves, swimming swiftly through them and stirring up yet more lightning with great beats of his wings. Noting a bit of a fuss against his fangs, he parted his jaws slightly to give the like-an-egg some fresh air and a look at where they were, but there was a very brief pause, a sudden scramble, and then the boy was clinging to his tongue so tightly that he thought the tip might go numb. He almost chuckled and shut his jaws again before picking up more speed. His interest and pride of possession in his find, his delight in the lightning sparking across his scales and the thrill of some new thing to change what tomorrow might look like all combined in his heart to make him exulting, and he flew all the faster and stronger until soon he was bursting out of the edges of the storm and into the sunlight.

The black beast rose up through the air and then dove sharply for the sheer pleasure of it, and then began lazily circling while considering where might be a good nesting site. He wished suddenly for his dam; picking out shelter for vulnerable eggs was a female's instinctive talent, but then he perked up as he realized that her wisdom could still benefit him despite her body now being reduced to mere bone and scales. The dragon banked through the air and then began heading for the cavern where he himself had been hatched, and where he now intended to raise his like-an-egg.

This whole of the small continent was his territory, but the lush little valley and the surrounding mountains were _home_. Ancient realm of watchers, where all dragons of this land were bred and born.


End file.
